Miya Black, Pirate Princess I: Adventure Dawns (30 page)

"You're doing well," said Sola.

"I know it would be better in so many ways if I never saw her again, but I hope I do. I really hope I do. In any case, I'm sure Pete's intentions are to attack Clover Island, and soon."

"Then do you want to search for your grandmother? Or sail for Clover Island immediately?"

Miya stopped. They were at the docks, now, right beside the harbourmaster's office. Sola looked at his sister, at her face, which was tense and tired and somehow older than she'd ever seemed before.

"I don't know," she said.

Miya stood at the bow of her ship, wind and rain stinging her eyes as she looked forward. It wasn't storming, but the rain was hard enough to make navigation difficult and was accompanied by thick mist—visibility was poor, and standing out on the open deck uncomfortable. Miya barely noticed it. She leaned forward, squinting.

"I see it!" she called, turning her head towards Sola at the wheel. "Sola! I see it!"

"How close?" came his reply.

"Close! Steer to port, not too hard!"

Miya felt her ship turn, blinked rain out of her eyes as she continued staring straight ahead.

"Good!" she called. "Hold that heading, steady as she goes!"

As they rounded the point, Miya looked up at the rock they were passing.

"It really does look like a turtle!" she called. "Can you see it?"

"Yes," came Sola's reply. Miya grinned into the rain.

"The mist seems clearer up ahead and I think the rain's stopping, we should be okay now!"

Miya's prediction turned out to be correct, and as they sailed towards the Turtle Island docks the rain lightened, before clearing up completely as they neared the wharf. Miya was just about to leap off the ship and go recklessly charging into whatever lay ahead when Sola stopped her.

"What?" she asked, feeling Sola's hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked at him. "What's up?"

"Perhaps you should think about your plan first."

"I have thought about it. Go find a pub, ask about my grandmother, repeat until I find her."

"That was your last plan," said Sola.

"And look how well it worked! I found Heartless Jon in less than half a day! I mean ... okay, it was more like he found me, and he wasn't exactly what I expected, but the basic 'searching' part of the plan worked great!"

"At the cost of alerting the entire island as to who you were, and who you were searching for. Including Grace Morgon and her crew. Perhaps a more subtle approach would work better."

"What? Pirates don't do 'subtle'! Who cares if people know who I am, in fact it's GREAT if people know who I am! Pirates WANT people to know who they are, pirates WANT people to talk about them!"

"And pirates that are talked about too much can come to unpleasant ends," said Sola. "Many of the 'Necessary Tales' ended in that way. Perhaps our grandfather realised this, and—"

"Heartless Jon is a coward," said Miya, coldly. "Hiding away and living for nothing. My grandmother will be better than that. At least she's still pirating properly."

"How do you know that she is?"

"I just do," Miya said, firmly.

"Even so, I wonder if this was the right choice," said Sola.

"There you go 'wondering' again, that'll get you nowhere—you know what Dad always says? 'All the what-ifs in the world couldn't shift a grain of sand'. Just thinking won't get you anywhere, you have to DO stuff! And if you make the wrong decision then who cares, at least you tried, at least you did SOMETHING! And why aren't you more excited about this? We could be close to meeting OUR grandmother! She's just as much yours as she is mine, did you even think of that? You could be about to meet your grandmother, Sola!"

Sola was silent for a long moment.

"I have a grandmother," he said, his voice low. "Badger Pete has her locked up somewhere along with the rest of my people. Even now I can picture her—sitting there, chewing on a piece of bobaboco and cursing at the guards."

Miya's expression softened a little.

"Okay, so maybe it's not the same to you," she said. "You have a grandmother, and all your aunts and uncles, and cousins, all your village. But for me ... I've just got Mum and Dad, that's all I've ever had. And, y'know, Uncle Lars and Penny and the people on Clover Island and they're great, they're so great, and they're like family but ... what I'm saying is real family, grandparents, I've ... I've never really had that."

Sola surprised Miya by embracing her, putting his great arms around her and holding her close a moment before releasing her.

"Let's go," he said. "And find our grandmother."

Miya looked up at him, blinking away sudden tears.

"Y-yeah," she said, her voice thick. "I mean, yeah! Let's go!"

"But I have a request," said Sola.

"Hm? What?" asked Miya, who had already jumped off the ship and onto the docks.

"This time, could I do the talking?"

*

Miya stood on the docks, arms crossed, staring out at the grey waters of the Turtle Island harbour. Sola had asked her to let him conduct his 'investigation' alone, reasoning that Miya's 'force of personality', as he put it, might cause her to interfere with his questions, regardless of her resolve. What he meant was that she wouldn't be able to resist butting in and talking over the top of him. Miya had to admit (just to herself, of course) that he had a good point, but still, it was slightly insulting. She coughed as she looked out to sea. At least the mist was clearing.

"Miya."

She turned to see Sola walking towards her.

"Our grandmother's ship is docked here, and she's in town," he said. "Also, it seems she's going by the name 'Jean Scarlet' rather than 'Jean Black'."

Miya stared at him, more than a little shocked.

"You're kidding," she said. "How in the world did you find all that out without going into a single pub?"

"I began by thinking about the means of entering or departing the port. There is one group—"

"All right, all right, I get it. You asked dock workers. I admit it, that was pretty smart. They see all the ships come and go and must know more than a little about who's on board and whatnot. And everyone knows how much they love gossip and news."

Miya pouted a bit, then shrugged with a sigh.

"Anyway, we got the info. That's the important thing. So she's in town, right here? So all we have to do is go find her?"

"No."

"What?"

"Her ship is docked here. Its name is 'The Endless Adventure'."

"The Endless Adventure," Miya repeated, dreamily.

"All that we have to do is find her ship and wait nearby until she returns. It is better to wait for pigs at their watering hole than to chase them wildly through the jungle."

"Yeah, but I bet chasing them's more fun," said Miya. She looked around. "Is her ship near here?"

Sola nodded.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go check it out!"

*

"Now THIS is a PIRATE ship!"

The Endless Adventure was a large but sleek frigate, with railings painted a deep, luxuriant red. Sola nodded as he looked up at the ship, while Miya danced up and down the pier, trying to take it in from every angle.

"It's impressive," said Sola.

"I'll say! Oh my goodness I can't wait to meet her, she'll help us! She's got to! And she's got such an amazing ship, Badger Pete'll probably turn tail and run as soon as he sees it! Come on, let's go find her right now!"

"I thought we were waiting."

"Waiting! Waiting's
boring
, Sola! Pirates don't 'wait', pirates 'do'!"

Sola sighed as his sister walked briskly past him, up the pier. As he went to follow her she stopped suddenly and half-turned her head.

"And the first place we're looking for her is in a pub," she said.

*

Miya pushed open the door of the pub and stomped out huffily, Sola close behind.

"I don't call that any kind of way to behave at all," she said. "Swinging on the chandelier, I ask you. Honestly. And the language in that place! I've never heard such things! And the clothing on the women! Or the lack thereof, I should say."

Sola was still blushing.

"Well, anyway," Miya continued, "at least people knew her name this time, even if they were too drunk to even point us in the right direction. Let's find another pub, and—hey, where are you going?"

Sola was walking across the street, to a shifty-looking character seated on a barrel.

"Excuse me," he said. "I'm looking for Jean Scarlet."

"Yeah? So what?"

"I'm sorry," said Sola. He held up a copper coin. "What I meant to say was, I'm looking for Jean Scarlet."

"Ye've missed her," said the man, reaching out for the copper coin, which Sola moved out of the man's reach simply by raising his hand a few inches.

"Missed her how?"

"She's headin' out tonight, she'll have cast off by now."

Sola looked at the man a moment, then held out the copper coin, which the man made disappear astonishingly quickly.

"Thank you," said Sola.

"Nah, thank you," said the man. "Best run if you wanna catch her, mate."

Miya was already halfway down the street, off to a somewhat sloppy start but accelerating fast.

"Come ON!" she shouted back at Sola, who ran after her, catching up easily thanks to his longer legs. She scowled as she glanced at him.

"It doesn't seem fair somehow that you're a faster runner than me," she said. "I should be the quick one."

The mist was clearing as they neared the docks, and they could see the Endless Adventure in the distance, sailing away.

"We can catch her, we can still catch her!" shouted Miya. She pulled out her knife as she skidded to a stop, slashing at one of the ropes tying the Swan to the pier and severing it in a single strike.

"Get the other one!" she called to Sola, leaping on board and into the rigging, hurriedly letting out the sails. The ship began to move away from the docks even before Sola had finished untying it, and he jumped on board as Miya unlocked the wheel.

"She's fast!" said Miya, giving up the helm to Sola and leaping back into the rigging, a wild grin on her face. "For a big ship, she's VERY fast!"

"But we can catch her," said Sola, holding the wheel steady.

"The Black Swan is the fastest ship in the ocean!" Miya cried, jumping down from the rigging and taking the helm. "We can catch ANYTHING!"

Despite Miya's words, she and Sola had to work hard to gain on the big frigate—its sails were large and many, and the wind was strong. But gain they did, slowly but surely, and as the Endless Adventure passed the turtle's head rock that gave the island its name they managed to catch up to it. A man wearing a red bandanna looked down at them from the railings as they drew alongside.

"What do YE want?" he called.

"I want to speak with my grandmother!" Miya called back, proudly. Sola leaned down to her:

"Nobody on that ship knows who you are," he whispered. "Most likely they don't even know that Jean Scarlet IS a grandmother."

"Oh," said Miya. "Then I want to speak with your captain!" she called. The man squinted down at her a moment, then disappeared. Miya danced impatiently from foot to foot as she waited, then, unable to stand not doing anything, she leapt into the rigging and climbed up to the crow's nest, which meant she was at about the same level as the Endless Adventure's main deck. There were dozens of crew on board, most of them busy tying ropes or stowing barrels and crates. Miya watched them, wide-eyed, then almost gasped as the captain emerged from her cabin.

She was tall, probably not quite six feet, but close to that. Her face was strong, not as old as Miya had expected but certainly weathered. She had a long scar next to her left eye, running down her cheek. What Miya could see of her hair was red but greying, mostly tucked up under a black tricorn hat with a large red feather stuck in it. Her clothes were elegantly practical, black and red in colour, and with polished gold buttons.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

Jean Scarlet's voice was sharp and demanding, a voice not to be disobeyed. Miya swallowed hard, then stood as tall and proud as she could and said:

"I am Miya Black of Clover Island. I'm ... I'm your granddaughter."

Jean stared at Miya for several seconds.

"I don't have a granddaughter," she said, firmly.

"No, you do! My father is your son, Tomas Black—"

"I don't have a son, either," said Jean. She turned away.

"But—"

"Break away from their ship!" she called. She glanced back at Miya, a hard look in her grey eyes, then turned and walked away

Miya stood in the crow's nest, staring after her grandmother, utterly shocked.

Then her eyes narrowed.

Jaw set, Miya grabbed a rope and slid down to the deck, then snatched a grappling hook from inside her cabin. She swung it once then let it fly, not even testing its hold before leaping from the deck of the Swan and swinging towards the Endless Adventure. Her feet hit the wooden side of the ship with a heavy impact, then she was climbing, pulling herself up quickly. As she vaulted over the railing the crew nearby shouted and drew weapons; Miya responded by drawing her own sword.

"Grandmother!" she yelled. Jean, who had walked to the opposite side of the ship, turned, angry.

"How DARE you step foot on my ship without permission!" she hissed.

"I'm sorry, but I had to! You DO have a son! And a granddaughter! And a grandson, even! And we all need your help!"

Jean's mouth was a thin line. "I should have you cut down where you stand," she said. Miya drew herself up, her knuckles white as she gripped her sword.

"By this rabble?" she said. "I'd like to see them try."

Jean stared at Miya coldly.

"So would I."

Miya gasped as the crew attacked, just barely defending against the first strike, which came from a cutlass-wielding crewman on her left. She parried and then countered, but he leapt back as another crewman attacked from Miya's right, swinging a belaying pin down hard at her head. She dodged, but this put her in danger from two more crew, who slashed and stabbed at her with long, curved knives. Miya parried one and then threw her sword from right hand to left, swinging hard towards the arm of the second attacker. She scored a hit, hearing the man grunt in pain, but then a strong impact from the right caused her to stagger—one of the crew had hit at her arm with a belaying pin. Miya gripped her sword tight and looked around, trying to find an opening, some way to gain an advantage, but the crew were too close around her, too many.